San Marzanos are the only tomatoes I will use in my sauce.

I like any of Cento's whole canned tomatoes. I once taste-tested batches of Bolognese alla Hazan and could perceive no difference. Neither could two of my prissiest Italophiles.

That's the marinara recipe I use, btw.

by Anonymous

reply 1

12/06/2017

#me too...lol

by Anonymous

reply 2

12/06/2017

why is it called marinara sauce when there's nothing marine about it??

by Anonymous

reply 3

12/06/2017

Are you the idiot who posted in the comments that marinara must contain fish?

by Anonymous

reply 4

12/06/2017

^no, but that idiot was right. Here in Italy we call "alla marinara" any sauce with fish or seafood. Why you yankees call a sauce with no fish "marinara" is one of the reasons we think of you as stupidi cafoni

by Anonymous

reply 5

12/06/2017

[quote]Here in Italy we call "alla marinara" any sauce with fish or seafood.

If I lived in the States I'd look for a good US brand of canned tomato rather than buying imported. I can understand buying imported foods if they're clearly better...or unavailable otherwise, but there've got to be good tomatoes grown in the US too. No?

by Anonymous

reply 7

12/06/2017

Been rewatching The Sopranos and have been meaning to make a "gravy" as they call it on that show. I have never made a tomato sauce from scratch. I've just bought Preggo and slopped it on any pasta that would be on sale; but I'm gonna go with OP s recipe tomorrow and see how it goes.

If you want good tomatoes here you have to grow your own. Tomatoes in US supermarkets are pale and flavorless.

by Anonymous

reply 10

12/06/2017

The only San Marzano tomatoes at my grocery come with basil in them (which may be standard, I don't know) so it limits what I can use them for.

by Anonymous

reply 11

12/06/2017

For R9

by Anonymous

reply 12

12/06/2017

I just heat up katsup.

by Anonymous

reply 13

12/06/2017

San Marzano tomatoes really do make a superior sauce. It's much sweeter than sauce made with standard canned tomatoes. I only add fresh basil, salt, and pepper. If I don't have time to make it myself, I like Mario Batali's tomato and basil jarred sauce better than any other I've tried. I've heard here that Mario is a putz, but he seems so naturally nice and friendly on his shows. Say it ain't so, DL!

And, R10 is right: the best sauce comes from home-grown tomatoes. I've only gotten to do that once, with tomatoes my father-in-law grew. It was perfection.

by Anonymous

reply 14

12/06/2017

You people have obviously not tasted Patsy's

by Anonymous

reply 15

12/06/2017

Italians make their tomato sauce mostly with canned tomatoes. You use fresh tomatoes only during the peak of tomato season. Otherwise you use canned.

by Anonymous

reply 16

12/06/2017

OP was clearly raised in a lower class household

by Anonymous

reply 17

12/06/2017

Someone who was Italian once told me that only Italians in America refer to red sauce as "gravy". In Italy they call it sauce.

by Anonymous

reply 18

12/06/2017

What's in Patsy's, R15? Stoli, Bolli, and ciggy butts?

by Anonymous

reply 19

12/06/2017

[quote]There are two explanations as to how the sauce came to be named for the sailors. One is that its ingredients – oil, tomato sauce, garlic and dried herbs – traveled well and didn’t spoil easily, as meat or fish did. The ingredients could be assembled quickly and easily, in about the same time it took pasta to cook, and the two together made a tasty, filling and inexpensive meal for men at sea. A more romantic story holds that when sailors’ wives spotted homeward bound ships on the horizon, they hurried to make this sauce so their hungry men could have a hot meal the minute they walked in the door. I favor the first explanation as the true story. It makes perfect sense, while the second one seems unlikely. If I were the wife of a man who’d been at sea without fruit, vegetables, or any meat but salt pork, I’d give him something fresh.

I love making my own tomato sauces. There are so many variations, although OP's recipe is a reliable standard. And I don't bother with San Marzano tomatoes any more, after reading that RedPack/Red Gold tomatoes (inexpensive and grown on family farms in Indiana) were selected as the best canned tomatoes

BTW, if you're the type of person who likes growing your own tomatoes, it's important to choose between 'determinate' and 'indeterminate' varieties. Most tomato plants or seeds sold are for 'indeterminate' varieties, which keep bearing tomatoes until they're killed by frost. But if you're the type who's going to can them, or cook a lot of sauce up and freeze it, you're better off buying 'determinate' varieties, which produce all their fruit pretty much at the same time. Those are the types usually grown for canning.

R21, Thanks! I always keep plenty of cans of Red Gold tomatoes on hand, and love trying different tomato sauces. Of course, I buy fresh tomatoes when they're in season, but canned tomatoes are one of the few canned staples that I always have on hand. This is a nice, very distinct, Provençale tomato sauce from Julia Child, with orange peel, saffron and fennel seeds.

by Anonymous

reply 22

12/08/2017

I love him in Rebel Without A Cause. Too bad his gay trick killed him.

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